Badgers a surprise playoff contender

Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesGary Andersen's Wisconsin Badgers open the season with a huge matchup against LSU.

MADISON, Wis. -- College coaching fits are mostly straightforward. You know, a coach went to the school at which he now works, or he at least has ties to the area that will pay recruiting dividends or make the fan base feel as if he’s one of them.

Gary Andersen, who has been here in Wisconsin’s capital city for a little more than a year, is originally from Salt Lake City and arrived here via Utah State. And yet, after a conversation in his office and a general evaluation of his philosophies and priorities, you’d swear he had Badger blood.

In short, Andersen wants his program to be centered on running the ball, playing defense and graduating players. So it’s no wonder that athletic director Barry Alvarez, a longtime UW coach who has a statue outside Camp Randall, saw quickly that Andersen was his guy when Bret Bielema bolted for Arkansas. Continuity, it turns out, came in the form of a coach thousands of miles away.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Travis Haney

Travis Haney joined ESPN in April 2012 as Insider's national college football writer. He previously covered the University of Oklahoma Sooners for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman for one season, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks for The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for four. Additionally, Haney has contributed since 2003 to ESPN publications and projects, including ESPN The Magazine.

A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Haney's initial introduction to a college football cathedral was Neyland Stadium. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee, in 2003, and has spent time covering the Volunteers, the University of Georgia, Clemson University, and other schools. Safe to say, football, and football in the South, was injected into his bloodstream at a young age.

Haney is the author of three books -- Gamecock Glory and Gamecock Encore, which chronicled the South Carolina baseball team's run to the 2010 and 2011 national championships, and State of Disunion, a historical look at the Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry that he co-wrote with Larry Williams.